In contrast with a general trend of declining trading frictions, over the last several decades the cost of borrowing securities
for short-selling has increased dramatically. Using a portfolio approach, we show that as the borrow costs have increased
so has the mispricing associated with portfolios of high-borrow-cost names. This decline in market efficiency has resulted
from a lack of competition in the intermediation chain that links share lenders with borrowers, and a growing and rational
unwillingness among institutional investors to hold and lend high-borrow-cost names. Since 2020, we estimate that the inefficiencies
associated with these frictions have exceeded $300 Million/day.
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